Mahomes’ best playoff moments, ranked? Trust us here, he’s already had some good ones
This list could be 10 times longer, but we’ve singled out a top five — Patrick Mahomes’ most eye-popping moments in the playoffs so far for the Chiefs:
1. Super Bowl LIV
The scene: Fourth quarter, 7:13 left, third and 15 from the Chiefs’ 35, down 20-10. Yep, it’s Jet Chip Wasp time.
Let’s just be honest. This is the least suspenseful list of all-time. You, me, my editor and your neighbor’s pet turtle all knew this would be No. 1.
But this point is easy to forget: The play was set up on the previous snap, when the 49ers challenged a first-down catch by Tyreek Hill. They won the challenge, but the review gave Mahomes, Chiefs coach Andy Reid and offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy time to talk. “Do we have time to run Wasp?” — Mahomes’ question to his coaches in that moment — is now sold on T-shirts and memorialized in a wall at GM Brett Veach’s house.
Mahomes knows he’s going to be blasted on this play. He takes 10 steps back, plants his back foot 14 yards behind the line of scrimmage and fires 57 yards in the air. Hill is wide open thanks to a combination of brains, speed and the 49ers secondary being set up for the double move earlier in the game.
This play, Jet Chip Wasp, will forever be today’s generation’s version of 65 Toss Power Trap.
2. 2019 AFC Championship Game
The scene: Second quarter, 23 seconds left, second and 10 from the Titans’ 27, down 17-14.
Mahomes’ reads are deep, but the receivers are covered when the pressure comes. He outruns Tennessee’s No. 50 toward the sideline, and then gives the shoulder shimmy to No. 54 — who was spying on the play, specifically to eliminate the rest of this sentence — and then sprints down the left sideline, making contact with No. 35 at the 6-yard line, losing the ball for a blink but then regaining it as he falls into the end zone.
When he got up, another double-digit deficit had been turned into a lead, and his double bicep flex has served as B-roll for a thousand montages since.
3. 2019 AFC Division Round game
The scene: Second quarter, 8:17 left, second and goal from the 5, Chiefs down 24-7.
Really, we could pick a dozen plays from this game. The Chiefs’ first touchdown came on a throw to running back Damien Williams before the running back turned his head. That pass from Mahomes zipped through a hole the size of a football. Their fourth touchdown came on a Mahomes wrist-flick that went through three defenders.
We’re choosing this one because it’s the moment you could feel hope turn to swagger, Mahomes extending a play long enough to sidearm a touchdown in traffic to tight end Travis Kelce, the quarterback’s celebration lasting approximately 28 seconds and covering approximately 42 yards. Before that day, teams that trailed by 21 points after the first quarter had lost 135 of 143 times, including all six times it had happened in the playoffs.
4. 2018 AFC Championship Game
The scene: Fourth quarter, 32 seconds left, first and 10 from the Chiefs’ 31, down 31-28.
Pressure comes almost immediately on Mahomes’ front side, but it’s wide, so he steps forward, slides to his right, pumps a few times and then makes a perfect and off-schedule throw downfield to running back Spencer Ware. The play goes for 26 yards, jump-starting a drive that ends with Harrison Butker’s 39-yard field goal to force overtime.
This game will always be remembered in Kansas City for Dee Ford lining up offsides, but in the moment this was one of the biggest plays in franchise history.
5. 2018 AFC Division Round game
The scene: Second quarter, 1:46 left, second and goal from the 4, Chiefs up 17-7.
Context matters here. The Colts had just scored a touchdown on Dustin Colquitt’s first blocked punt in five years, and Mahomes or not, if you didn’t at least wonder about the Ghosts of Playoff Failures Past then you hadn’t been a Chiefs fan very long.
This whole drive was a boss move, really: 10 plays, all but two for positive yards, covering 75 yards in just over 4 minutes. But the score came when Mahomes’ initial reads weren’t open. He glided toward the right, then pump-faked to hold the linebacker for the sliver of a second he needed to dive for the pylon.
Demons exorcised, Mahomes flexed a bicep, and CHIIIIIIEEEEFFFFFS chants filled Arrowhead Stadium.
This story was originally published January 15, 2021 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Mahomes’ best playoff moments, ranked? Trust us here, he’s already had some good ones."